Best Factorio Server Hosting in 2026
Automate massive factories in co-op — lightweight but CPU-intensive late-game.
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Factorio multiplayer is where factory optimization becomes a team sport. A dedicated server lets your group collaborate on increasingly complex production chains without anyone needing to host locally — and the factory keeps running even when players are offline.
Why Host a Factorio Server
Factorio is unusual in the hosting world. The game is incredibly well-optimized, so even massive factories run smoothly on modest hardware — until they don't:
- Early to mid-game — Almost any host handles this effortlessly
- Megabase territory — Thousands of assemblers, belts, and inserters start testing CPU limits
- Rocket launches per minute (RPM) — The community benchmark for factory scale
The transition happens gradually. A server that runs perfectly for 20 hours may start dropping UPS (updates per second) once the factory reaches a certain complexity.
Resource Requirements
| Factory Scale | UPS Target | RAM | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter base | 60 UPS | 2GB | Pre-rocket launch |
| Post-rocket | 60 UPS | 2–4GB | Expanding production |
| Megabase | 40–60 UPS | 4–8GB | 1000+ SPM |
Factorio is heavily single-threaded, so clock speed matters far more than core count. Hosts running Ryzen 9 or i9 processors at 5GHz+ deliver the best megabase performance.
Mod Support
Factorio has one of the best mod systems in gaming. The built-in mod portal makes installation seamless — the server downloads mods automatically, and clients sync on connect. Popular multiplayer mods include:
- Space Exploration — Extends the game to interplanetary logistics
- Krastorio 2 — Overhauls production chains with new tiers
- Industrial Revolution 3 — Adds material processing stages
- Bob's + Angel's — The classic complexity overhaul
Modded servers generally need more RAM and CPU, but Factorio's mod system is so well-designed that performance overhead is minimal compared to other games.
Multiplayer Tips
- Latency tolerance — Factorio handles latency well, so geographic server location matters less than raw performance
- Autosave frequency — Default 5-minute autosaves can cause brief freezes on large maps; consider 10–15 minute intervals
- Player count — Factorio technically supports hundreds of players, but 4–16 is the practical range for coordinated play